


Glitch in the System: A Necessary Evil

by SystemGlitch



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-11-30
Packaged: 2019-02-08 14:02:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12866055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SystemGlitch/pseuds/SystemGlitch
Summary: By E.Responsible pet care happens.





	Glitch in the System: A Necessary Evil

After a day of system infiltration down in Akande’s office, Sombra returned to her room in search of a warm bed, some light reading, and a snack.

What she found was Widowmaker standing in the corner with a look of deep concern on her face, staring at what appeared to be nothing.

“Widow?” Sombra asked, closing the door behind her with considerable trepidation. “You all right?”

Widowmaker held up one finger. “Wait,” she said. A moment later a black and white bullet shot forth from the bathroom, careening up and over the easy chair in the corner. Toulouse, chased by demons neither of them could see, tore across the beige carpet until he smacked head first into the wall. He shook it off with little dignity, jumping immediately into the window to commence a deep-throated yowl at the outdoors.

“The cat,” Widowmaker said, pointing at him as he vocalized at nothing. “I think he is broken.”

“Uh,” Sombra replied, at a loss. “Gimme a second.” Sitting on the bed, she pulled up her hard light screen and began perusing the internet in search of advice.

“Shit,” she cursed, dropping the screen.

“What?” Widowmaker asked as Toulouse yowled again, jumping off the tale to wind his way furiously around her legs.

“I think our kitten is growing up,” Sombra said, looking uncomfortable.

“What?” Widowmaker asked, looking down as Toulouse lavished her with affections. “Oh,” she said after a slow dawning of comprehension. “ _Oh_.”

As gently as she could, Widowmaker extracted herself from the cat’s attention and joined Sombra on the bed.

“We should bring him to the vet,” Sombra said, furiously swiping at her screen. A list of company names glowed against the purple background. “There are several in the area.”

“What are you doing?”

“Perusing our options. Picking the best candidate.”

“And what makes for a good candidate?” Widow asked, watching as Sombra worked, fingers like lightning over the glowing interface. Toulouse had resumed his place at the window, yowling and waving his tail around frantically.

“In this instance?” she grinned, tapping on a name to highlight it. “The one with the easiest system to hack.” Eyes scanning the screen, she typed in the day’s date and a time: 1pm. “Looks like we have an appointment.”

Widowmaker rolled her eyes and got off the bed, walking toward the door. “I’ll go get dressed.”

* * *

The vet’s office was tucked away in a nearby village, housed in a small cottage much too quaint for two assassins towing an unhappy cat. The longer they walked, the louder he got, earning them unwanted attention from passersby.

Without further ado, they slipped inside the office. “It smells like antiseptic in here,” was Widowmaker’s only comment as she sat down to wait for Sombra to finish typing in Toulouse’s registration on the touch pad. It was an effort in futility - they’d experience a blackout after they left, and all records of their attendance would be lost. In the meantime, though, Sombra enjoyed making up the details of her mundane life in their system, noting down  _Danielle Guillard_  as Toulouse’s other guardian while cackling to herself over it.

“Well yeah,” the hacker shrugged, sitting next to her with Toulouse on the chair beside them. “It’s a medical office.” Widowmaker grunted, crossing her arms in displeasure.

“Toulouse?” a voice announced a few moments later from the doorway. Sombra stood up.

“Right here,” she replied, feeling a strange sort of pride in presenting her cat to someone inclined to enjoy his presence. She was the only one at the mansion who sought out his presence. Widowmaker cared for him as much as she was able. Akande was ambivalent as ever. Gabriel pretended not to like cats, but Sombra had seen him playing with him when he thought no one was watching as Toulouse would poke his paws under the door of her bedroom. He’d never admit to it though.

“What a gorgeous fellow!” the vet said, peering into the carrier where Toulouse had woken up and commenced his endless purring at the attention. “He’s so handsome. Come, bring him back,” she said, smiling as she gestured for them to follow through the door from the waiting room. “Your girlfriend can come too.” Sombra looked back in time to see Widowmaker flush from her cheeks to her temples, her embarrassment the only thing keeping Sombra’s own face from reddening.

“Come on,” she said, ignoring the public recognition of their unnamed relationship and grabbing Widow’s hand with the one not holding Toulouse’s carrier to drag the uncomfortable sniper behind her.

Toulouse tumbled out of the cat carrier as soon as Sombra opened it; a black and white ball of vibrating fur that immediately began rubbing against the vet’s hand.

“What a sweetheart,” she said, scratching him behind his ears. “Is he always this well behaved?”

“Shockingly, yeah,” Sombra replied. The vet smiled, nodding as she turned to wash her hands. Toulouse sauntered dangerously close to the edge, one paw slipping in his pursuit of continued pets as she left him to his own devices.

“ _Chat,_ ” Widowmaker chided, expert reflexes activating to catch him before he took a tumble.

“Well behaved, but dumb,” Sombra laughed. Widowmaker gave Toulouse a single awkward pat on the head before regaining her stoic composure, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall.

The vet began her examination with a typical physical: checking his gums, weight, and ears. Toulouse, for all his praised good naturedness, was not pleased about being manhandled. He grew steadily less inclined towards purring and pressed himself against the metal table irritably. Sombra looked over at Widowmaker and saw the sniper’s eyes narrowing in time with the cat’s displeasure.

“He’s very healthy,” the vet said, running a hand down his back in an attempt to soothe him. Toulouse was silent, his ever-present purr now gone. “There are always risks, but I don’t envision encountering any of them.”

“Risks?” Widowmaker enquired, eyes watching the vet like a target.

“There is always some danger to anaesthesia, but for a young, healthy boy, those risks are rather slim.” The vet looked concerned, Widow’s natural gravitation toward threatening those that displeased her settling like a thick blanket over the room. “The surgery itself is quick. He should be ready to be picked up tomorrow.”

“We have to leave him?” Widowmaker said, looking incredulous at the idea.

“Well she’s not just going to use a pair of scissors, you know,” Sombra commented, and both Widow and the vet favored her with horrified looks at the idea. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. He’s pretty resilient. He lives with us, after all.”

“He had better be.” Widowmaker’s golden eyes were still boring into the vet. The doctor avoided them nervously, trying to coax the cat back into his carrier.

Toulouse, however, did not want to return, and he shrieked as the vet attempted to push him in.

“He is crying,” Widowmaker said, and Sombra grabbed her arm as the sniper made to pull the vet away from him.

“Hey, Wid- _Dani_ ,” Sombra interjected nervously, holding onto her bicep for dear life, “it’s fine. Toulouse is fine. _Let the vet do her job_.”

Toulouse hissed, fur puffing along his back as he desperately tried to get out of the vet’s grip to scratch her hands. Finally, with one dextrous maneuver, the vet managed to shove the reluctant feline into the carrier, zipping it shut behind him and just narrowly missing his claws.

“I will kill you,” Widowmaker murmured at the vet, deadly-soft under her breath.

“You’ll do no such thing,” Sombra hissed back, horrified.

“Excuse me?” the vet asked, brows furrowed, clearly uncertain whether she had heard the sniper properly.

“We’ll be back tomorrow morning,” Sombra replied hastily, smiling her best smile and all but pushing Widowmaker out the door. Toulouse, finally snug in his carrier, whined out at the two of them as the vet hefted him up and away.

“Yes,” Widowmaker said, all but cracking her knuckles. “We’ll be back tomorrow.”

* * *

The next morning, Sombra awoke to an empty bed and the sound of jingling coming from downstairs. Confused, she rolled with a groan out of bed and into her slippers, slumping downstairs in an uncaffeinated and bleary haze.

What she saw when she emerged into the large living room seemed, at first, as though it must have been a dream. After a slap to her face and a few shakes of her head, however, she realized that it was, in fact, happening in real life.

Gabriel, Akande, and Widowmaker were sitting cross-legged on the floor as Toulouse lounged lazily before them. He appeared drowsy and less rambunctious than usual, but still made an effort to bat at the ball of tinsel Gabriel held above his head, dangling from a string attached to a stick.

“The actual fuck,” Sombra said, and the three assassins looked up at her sharing the same look of embarrassment.

“I went back first thing,” Widowmaker said, her tone sheepish.

“I felt bad for him,” Gabriel added. Akande jabbed his thumb toward Gabriel and nodded in silent agreement.

Sombra sighed, rubbed her eyes, and joined them.

Toulouse, purring despite the aftereffects of his surgery, flopped lazily on his side, paws pressed against Sombra’s knee. As he did, she heard the same jingling that had roused her earlier.

“Is that a new collar?” she asked, peering down at the purple strip of fabric gracing the circumference of his neck. It was decorated with small white skulls, and Sombra couldn’t help but smile at it.

“I thought he might like a treat after his ordeal.”

“When did you have time to go shopping?” Sombra asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I woke up early,” she replied haltingly. Then, “I bought it a while ago and was saving it for a special occasion.”

“I’m making breakfast,” Akande announced, giving Toulouse a final pet before standing up.

“Does this mean I can let him out of my room?” Sombra asked to his retreating back. Akande said nothing and Gabriel only shrugged before standing up to go join him. Widowmaker was staring down at Toulouse, back to his pleasant, if tired self, running her fingers through his fur with a singular focus.

Sombra smiled and picked up the cat toy.


End file.
